Malayalam filmmaker Dr Biju, through a Facebook post, slammed the Cultural Affairs Minister of Kerala, A.K Balan for inviting Mohanlal as the chief guest of the annual state awards ceremony. He pointed out that by inviting Mohanlal, the minister has inadvertently sided with Dileep, an accused in the case of abduction and sexual assault of an actress.
Dr Biju, not only criticized the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (popular known by the acronym AMMA) for taking a regressive stand by voicing support to the accused rather than the victim, but also Mohanlal for trying to reinstate Dileep into the organization after having taken over as the new president.
The post read, “The move which saw four women-members resigning from the organization seems to have had no effect on the president of the organization who then went on to voice his support to the accused in the press conference that followed.”
According to Biju, the minister erred when the fan superseded the public servant inside him. Giving credit where it’s due, Biju lauded the Kerala government’s Cultural Department for doing away with the cultural show after paying heed to popular demand.
Terming the prevailing system ‘illogical’, he suggested that the Cultural Department take a leaf out of the National Awards ceremony and follow a similar model where the Chief Minister presents the awards to the winners rather than inviting someone who had no business at the ceremony.
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Stating that “absence is as good a political stand”, he urged artistes “who were politically aware and had cultural values” to boycott the ceremony, if the Cultural Department were to go ahead with its current plan. He hoped that at least some among the prize winners that included members of the recently formed Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) would stay away from the ceremony.
His post concluded by hoping that the ministry would reconsider its move that allows for stardom to creep into public ceremonies, instead would let the chief minister and winners be the chief guests for the function.
Here’s the post:
Photo Courtesy: cinema express